Tidelines – September 24, 2015
My wife Leslie and I were hoping that a weekend fishing trip to the OBX where I just took our middle son James (and left our other two boys at home) would produce a lasting memory for our eight-year-old, like the fond memory my wife has when her dad took just her at age eleven to Florida and left her other three siblings at home.
Publisher Gary Hurley and his son James (age 8) with a 45″ red drum that was caught and released on a gold spoon by sight casting to a school of 50+ fish in the shallows behind Hatteras. They were fishing with Capt. Aaron Aaron of Tightline Charters out of Hatteras Harbor Marina.
I’m pretty sure Leslie and I met our goal, but I’m absolutely sure that I now have a lasting, fond memory—a memory full of highlights and the luxury of focusing in on only one child. And James and I have Capt. Aaron Aaron (Tightline Charters), Capt. Joey VanDyke (OBX Fishing Charters), and Hatteras’ annual Day at the Docks fall festival to start our long list of highlight thank yous.
On our drive out to the Outer Banks—drinking soda, eating snack food, burping and being proud of our burps instead of apologizing for them—James talked a little fishing with me, but he was much more interested in details about Day at the Docks, talking about the t-shirt fish prints and the free ice cream and the dunking booth, but on my weekend wish list were the big “old” red drum that were still in the Hatteras area.
James Hurley and his dad with some of the clams they found shuffling their feet on a shallow grass bed near the Hatteras Inlet. They were clamming (and fishing) with Capt. Joey VanDyke of Outer Banks Charters out of Hatteras Harbor Marina.
That’s where Capt. Aaron Aaron, of Tightline Charters, found us a fish.
The inshore fishing in the Hatteras area, as Aaron and others guides have been telling me, has been a little slow this year, so Aaron was sure to only give cautious optimism as we pulled away Saturday morning from the fairly quiet Hatteras Harbor docks, docks that would be bustling by the 12:00 noon return time. The plan was to cast on the flats until the sun got up high enough to go searching, and it took until later in the morning before I heard Aaron say, “Get your rod and look ahead to that sandbar. The fish are on the other side of that bar but before the second bar, and they’re big fish.”
My eyes took a moment to adjust and focus, and then there they were: a knot of about 50 or so big red drum just lulling around in crystal clear water no more than four feet deep. My gold spoon went through the crowd. I saw one of the fish turn and follow it. Then I saw that same fish open its mouth, take the spoon, feel the hook, and then scream line off the reel. Aaron had succeeded. My wish list goal of sight casting to citation-class red drum in the shallows, watching the fish the entire time from strike to release, was realized.
Once back at Hatteras Harbor, James was successful, too, at checking off items from his wish list. Hit the target on the dunking booth and watch a guy fall into the water? Check. Paint real fish with sponge brushes and then press a t-shirt over the painted fish? Check. Free ice cream? Check again. And we can also add watching the Concrete Marlin Contest, numerous demos and booths, and a tour of the Coast Guard’s 47’ Motor Lifeboat.
Sunday had us on the water with Capt. Joey VanDyke, of Outer Banks Fishing Charters and also out of Hatteras Harbor. Our goal on this day was to get James some fishing action despite the slow bite, and Joey had a plan to cover all bases. We anchored up in about 10’ of water off of a grass bank. That way he could put some cut baits off the back of the boat in hopes for red drum, and while waiting James and I could cast two-hook rigs up front into the deeper water.
James got to practice his casting while bringing in croaker, pinfish, pigfish, and spot on just about every cast. The red drum didn’t want to cooperate for us, but James got to do battle with a big sting ray, getting experience in lifting up the rod and then reeling down and learning more about how drag works.
We then finished the morning by anchoring up off a different grass bed where we got out and walked around in our bare feet feeling for clams, and when I told James that clams were one of mommy’s favorites, he worked even harder to pull steamer clams out of the grass to hand to Joey who was helping us fill up a five-gallon bucket.
Driving home, before James fell asleep in the back seat after eating a hot dog and fries and drinking his third Sprite in three days, we tried to compile a top 5 list of our favorite highlights of the weekend. We quickly had to upgrade to a top 10 list, and then a top 15, as we kept coming up with new memories that had to be counted.
And while fishing memories were present, so too was the dolphin show (thank you Aaron), and James climbing up into the tower (thank you Joey), and zip lines and skee ball (thank you Nags Head friends), and more burps, because burps are funny whether you’re age 8 or 48.
